The University of Louisiana at Lafayette announced today that Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns Vice President of Intercollegiate Athletics and Athletic Director, Dr. Bryan Maggard, has accepted a new role as the Athletic Director and Chief Operating Officer at the University of Missouri.

Maggard, who has been the director of athletics since 2017, has helped lead an athletic program that generated 21 Sun Belt Conference titles and 23 trips to the NCAA postseason across various sports. It was under his leadership that former football head coach Billy Napier, current football head coach Michael Desormeaux, former softball head coach Gerry Glasco, and current baseball head coach Matt Deggs were appointed. In the 2021-2022 athletic year under all of these coaches, Louisiana was the only program in the country to win a conference championship in all three sports, as well as winning a bowl game.

In football, Maggard’s leadership brought Billy Napier to Louisiana in 2018, where he finished 40-12 overall (27-5 in the Sun Belt) and led the Cajuns to the Sun Belt Conference Championship in all four seasons, as well as winning multiple bowl games. After Napier left for Florida, Maggard facilitated Michael Desormeaux’s appointment to football head coach, where the Cajuns continued to appear in bowl games, as well as a Sun Belt Conference Championship in 2024. Overall, Maggard’s football program has appeared in eight consecutive bowl games (a streak currently ongoing), an accomplishment only five other schools in the country (Georgia, Alabama, Oklahoma, Clemson, and Ohio State) currently have.

In softball, Maggard was responsible for bringing Gerry Glasco to lead the program in 2018. Glasco led the Lady Cajuns to winning the regular season title and making the conference championship final in all six of his full seasons (2020 season nof included due to it being canceled due to COVID) at Louisiana, winning four conference titles, and making the NCAA postseason in all of his seasons. Glasco ended up moving to Texas Tech in 2024.

In baseball, Maggard appointed current baseball coach Matt Deggs as the team’s head coach in following the 2019 season after UL’s former long time head coach, Tony Robichaux, passed away. Deggs led the Cajuns to four NCAA postseason appearances in the last six years (his 2020 season is not included as it was canceled due to COVID).

Maggard has earned multiple prestigious national accolades during his tenure at Louisiana, including an appointment to the College Football Playoff Selection Committee and the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision Oversight Committee. He also cultivated a culture of civic engagement, resulting in Louisiana student-athletes leading the Sun Belt Conference in community service hours for four consecutive years and ranking second nationally in 2023-24.

Current Deputy Athletics and Executive Director of the RCAF, Trey Frazier, has been appointed as the interim athletic director for the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns. The program has announced that a national search for a new Vice President of Intercollegiate Athletics and Athletic Director will begin in the coming months.